Important to Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., Robert E. Lee on Same Day

It seems bizarre that Martin Luther King, Jr., figurehead of civil rights, and Robert E. Lee, protector of the slave-holding South, should share a celebration day. But that’s the reality for three southern states: Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi.

For one, I love the South in all its heterogenous messiness. It has a mixed to negative reputation everywhere else in the country, but I grew up here and I see things distant haters can’t see. For a while, I didn’t even realize how foreign the Southern reality still was for the rest of the country.

The South is regularly criticized for being racist. And that’s fair in some ways. There are perhaps more outspoken racists in the South than there are in other parts of the country. But you know what? There is also more racial diversity.

I have to laugh when people from the Great White West talk about race and diversity. I’m thinking, “Dude, you’ve never even seen a black person except for on TV.” That’s only a slight exaggeration.

The South is dotted with communities where people of all colors live together. I’ve lived in California and visited all over the country, and the mixed communities of the South barely exist anywhere else. The park down the street from my house regularly has black kids, brown kids, yellow kids, and white kids all hanging out amicably with their multi-colored parents. Just try to find that same scenario in the West outside a soundstage in Hollywood. It doesn’t exist. But it defines the South. Is it easy to hate your different neighbor? Sure. Almost as easy as it is to love someone you don’t have to live with. (I see what you did there.)

So even though I’m sure a lot of people think Robert E. Lee appreciation day is a way for certain racist Southerners to let some of the air out of an African-American celebration, in reality, such unsegregated diversity of culture actually pervades the South.

Segregating the holiday doesn’t fit the South. The true Southerner honors Robert E. Lee because he was an imperfect idealist who fought for his troubled cause with honor. The true Southerner also honors Martin Luther King, Jr., because he too was an imperfect idealist who fought for his troubled cause with honor. MLK Robert E. Lee Day is not a take-your-pick holiday (like Kwanzaa and Christmas).

It would be a segregated celebration anywhere else in this country. But this holiday, like most things in the South, is about mixing diverse things together, allowing each to contribute its good qualities and flavors, until the resultant gumbo defies expectations and exceeds the lone potential of its parts.

Michael Minkoff is a writer, thinker, musician, and producer. He honestly does not prefer writing articles about politics, but he sincerely hopes you enjoy reading them. He also wonders why he is typing this in the third person.